nbc's andrea mitchell breaks it dun for you. >> reporter: the campaign was tough. victory is sweet. now comes the hard part. >> on january 1st, 2013, there's going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases. >> reporter: so what exactly is the fiscal cliff? it's night mare combination of tax hikes and spending cuts the president agreed to to force themselves into a compromise. so far, they haven't agreed on anything. so barring a last-minute fix at the stroke of midnight on new year's eve, the bush tax cuts expeer. the alternative minimum tax kicks in. more than half of all married couples with two children would owe an additional $4,000 in taxes each year. those with three or more children, that jumps to $4700. on top of that, the 2011 temporary payroll tax cut would expire, so add on a 2% tax increase for most workers. then there would be automatic spending cuts in 1,000 government program, including defense, medicare, extended unemployment benefits. everything but veteran's benefits, social security, and federal pensions. economists say that combination